Lola (Green)

1999
Bronze
100 × 110 x 30 cm
Signed Burns

Provenance

First exhibited as a painted wax and plaster wall sculpture in Towards the Baroque, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, 16 March to 10 April 1999.

Following the exhibition, the sculptures were cast in bronze in Sydney.

Exhibited at Floriade, Canberra, September 2000.

Installed at Orion Sculpture Park, Yass, New South Wales, 2007.

Sold through Donnelly’s Auctioneers, Perth, 2025. 
Private Collection.

Description

The Lola series began with a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show in London in the early 1990s. Inspired by the extraordinary displays, I planted tulips in my London garden. After cutting the flowers and bringing them indoors, I became fascinated by the way they continued to transform over many days. They opened wider, twisted towards the light and gradually revealed distinct personalities. What had first appeared to be a simple flower became expressive, animated and almost human. Those observations became the starting point for a body of work that has continued for more than three decades.

The title Lola was inspired by the Kinks’ song of the same name. As I studied the tulip more closely, I became fascinated by the relationship between the central stamen and the surrounding petals. The flower suggested ideas of identity, female friendship and the coexistence of masculine and feminine characteristics within a single natural form. These ideas informed the series from the outset, although they remained largely unspoken when the sculptures were first exhibited.

Lola (Green) was originally finished with a soft green patina that has matured naturally over time. Exposure to the elements has enriched the surface with subtle variations of verdigris, bronze and pale green, giving the sculpture an appearance reminiscent of ancient bronze. This gradual transformation has become part of the work itself, echoing the central idea behind the Lola series: that living forms continue to change long after their initial creation. Like the tulips that inspired the sculptures, the bronze has acquired its own history through time and exposure.

Exhibition History

1999 — Towards the Baroque, Annandale Galleries, Sydney.

September 2000 — Floriade, Canberra.

2004 — Stephanie Burns Fine Art, Deakin ACT.

2007–2012 — Orion Sculpture Park, Yass, NSW.

Bibliography

Towards the Baroque. Exhibition catalogue. Annandale Galleries, Sydney, 1999.

Bruce James, “Toto, I’ve a Feeling We’re Not on Canvas Any More,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 April 1999.

Cassie Proudfoot, A Sculptor Succumbs to Tulip Mania, Canberra Times, September 2000.

With the Arts Relax, Canberra Times, 24 September 2000.

Helen Musa, article on the theft and recovery of Lola (White), Canberra Times, 2004.

© Stephanie Fuller (Burns)